The Bushmills Distillery is located in the village of Bushmills. It was founded in 1784 by Hugh Anderson. Although the date 1608 is printed on the label of the brand – referring to an earlier date when King James I granted a license to Sir Thomas Phillips to distil whiskey in the area of the River Bush in County Antrim in what is today Northern Ireland. By Virtue of this royal license, Bushmills became the oldest licensed distillery in Ireland.

In 1784 the Bushmills Distillery officially became a registered company, and for its first few decades, it struggled. In fact, between the years 1802 and 1822, no records show that the distillery was even in operation – but in 1860 that changed when a spirit merchant from Belfast, who went by the name of James McColgan, purchased the distillery with his business partner Patrick Corrigan. 20 years later, the pair formed a company, but by 1885, the original Bushmills distillery was destroyed by a fire. Fortunately, the whole distillery was quickly rebuilt, and in 1890 with the help of the SS Bushmills steamship, Bushmills began distributing and delivering all the way across the Atlantic in the United States. The SS Bushmills, harboured at New York City and Philadelphia before it headed off to Yokohama, Hong Kong, and beyond.

In the 20th Century, the United States became a more important market than ever for the whiskey company, but when the 1920s Prohibition came into force, it hit lots of distilleries hard. Luckily, Bushmills survived and continues exporting its traditional whiskey all over the world.

After the Second World War, Bushmills distillery was bought by Isaac Wolfson. And in 1972, it was taken over by Irish Distillers, meaning that the Irish Distillers controlled the production of all Irish whiskey at the time. In June 1988, Irish Distillers was bought over by Pernod Ricard. And in August 2005, the distillery was bought by Diageo for £200 million. 

What is remarkable for a distillery is that the Bushmills Distillery has survived nearly 400 years. The distillery marked its Quad-century in 2008.

In 2015, Jose Cuervo acquired the distillery from Diageo. Bushmills distillery has a capacity of 2 million litres per year. Their malt is 100% malted barley, which is used in their single malt Whiskeys.

To this day, Bushmills continues its old-fashioned practices, producing an Irish whiskey that is envied – and enjoyed – all over the world.